Clean Line Energy Partners has been trying to quietly get its four HVDC transmission line projects criss-crossing the midwest approved without the notice of the landowners who will be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of "clean" energy.

Trying to get approvals before the landowners noticed or organized to fight back was a very short-sighted and mistaken practice. When the landowners eventually find out (and they will), they're twice as angry and determined to fight.

Clean Line's arrogant team of urban simpletons simply cannot grasp a living connection to the land and a farmer's sense of place identity.

My husband, Robin, and I bought land (8 acres) with a barn in Polo, MO a few years ago with the idea we would build a small home that would be energy efficient, and retire there one day. We did all the studies about solar power, small personal windmills, earth contact homes, wood stoves for heating, etc... When my husband lost his job in 2010, due to outsourcing to Singapore, we sold our suburban home in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Our house sold in a miraculous 33 days. We didn't have anywhere to live, so we took Robin's severance money and the equity from our home sale and in late April of 2011 we moved into our barn with our youngest son who was 12 at the time. Our future dream of an energy efficient home became a necessity.

The barn had limited everything. NO indoor plumbing, we had a water spicket about 30 feet from our barn with which we filled 3 five-gallon jugs each morning for cooking and personal use. And we had a camping port-a-potty. Bath time was interesting and we would set a water filled tub in the sun each morning so that we could have warm water for a bath that evening.We had one electrical plug on the safety light pole outside of our barn. This had been used by the previous owners for their RV hook-up. We used extension cords for our minimal electrical use. We have many funny memories, like trying to boil water on a hot-plate, and my husband trying to use a power tool at the same time during our building construction. If too much power was being used then the power would go off.

We lived in this barn from late April until the end of November. When it got really cold, we had enough of our cabin built in order to move in. I learned many lessons in that barn on how to live very well WITHOUT a lot of electrical power. People can live off-grid, or at least, they can certainly minimize their energy needs by doing really simple things. This is one of the reasons that Grain Belt Express and Clean Line Energy Partners are so despicable to me. They assume that the only way people can have a quality standard of living is if they, and leaches like them, provide the energy for them.

Since the Open House, I have been researching Grain Belt Express, and Clean Line Energy Partners and have become more and more disgusted by what I have learned. I went on-line and found the BlockRICL folks. They have been a wonderful resource for how to fight this monster. Farmers and landowners from my area have been stunned by the response we have received from our county commissioners who seem to think that Grain Belt Express is a lovely idea, and whose lips have been already whetted by the promises of money and perks from those cheaters who waltz in, make promises that are not even investigated; who plan to take control of land, devalue property and land useability through eminent domain if they don't get what they want, and reduce the quality of life for everyone in the community who are subjected to these lines.

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About the Author

Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

AboutStopPATH Blog

StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project. The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view. If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty. People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself. If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.